German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Peking University on Thursday afternoon in Beijing, where he delivered a speech, met the students and was conferred the title of honorary professor.
Steinmeier is paying a state visit to China from October 27 to 31, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In his speech, Steinmeier called on Germany and China to continue building mutually beneficial trade ties and seeking solutions through dialogue, noting that Europe does not want to decouple from China.
"There are many differences between China and Germany, but one thing we share is that both countries' economies rely on strong export capabilities, and anyone who wants to succeed in the global market needs to have essential predictability and reliability. These can only be achieved under rules that all parties respect. Therefore, I firmly believe that this is both our responsibility and in line with our own interests to protect and strengthen the rules-based international order," he said.
The German president also joined a table tennis game on campus. China and Germany have a long history of cooperation in the sport, with regular exchanges aimed at strengthening ties and sharing skills.
German students at Peking University welcomed the German president’s visit.
"I think I have a very good impression. I think I was very happy to see also many other politicians besides the president who come here. I think the deepest impression is probably the history between PKU and Germany. I wasn't aware there's so much of a deep connection between both institutions. And I think as an AI researcher myself, I was very happy to hear that the president is also taking AI safety matters seriously,” said Konstantin Garbers, a German student.
"I feel filled with hope, I would say. I feel like the cooperation between China and Germany has really been shown today. And in a way, I feel really moved by the fact that my country's president was invited here to speak, to speak to us, to speak to the Chinese and the German students today. And I'm very happy that he was awarded with the honorary professor title,” said Leander Zaiser, another German student.
This is Steinmeier’s first visit to China in nearly eight years. He visited China when serving as German foreign minster several times. Beijing is the second stop of this visit.
He began his trip in east China's Anhui Province on Tuesday and paid a visit to a research and development center built by German car-maker Volkswagen, where he emphasized that technologies developed in China could also benefit Germany and Europe.
German president awarded honorary professorship during visit to Peking University
